“We can overcome all of that. We just need the others to respect us a little more, because we feel the lack of respect towards the club. ” Behind this clumsy formulation, the words of Portuguese midfielder Xeka say a lot about the situation of LOSC: reigning French champions, Lille are no longer afraid in Ligue 1, not even the promoted Clermont. The latter logically won against the Mastiffs, Saturday, October 16 (1-0).
In a Gabriel-Montpied stadium on fire, Jocelyn Gourvennec’s Lille were jostled by the Auvergnats, always faithful to the ambitious playing principles of Pascal Gastien. Enterprising, the promoted opened the scoring on a dry strike from Vital N’Simba for his first goal in Ligue 1 (32e).
Deprived of Burak Yilmaz (suspended) and Jonathan David (substitute at kick-off), the LOSC suffered and never really brought danger in front of the Clermont goals, except on a strike from José Fonte (82e). The CF63 players could even have doubled the bet on the attempts of Jodel Dossou (45e+1, 63e) and Florent Ogier (58e).
The end of a series
With this fourth defeat in Ligue 1 in ten days, LOSC has already lost more matches than in the entire 2020-2021 fiscal year. A cruel observation. The French champion had yet chained three consecutive victories in the league before the international break, including a great victory against Olympique de Marseille (2-0).
But this post-title season risks being that of perpetual questioning for Lille. As evidenced by Xeka’s message after the meeting at the microphone of Amazon Prime: “It’s our fault, it’s true that it’s the end of a series. We are not at all in the place where we should be, but we are there to fight like all the time, like when we were at the top, like when we were champions. “
“We hit rock bottom, we were very bad”, even added Olivier Létang, president of the club. By bowing in this way on the lawn of the promoted, Lille (8e) is preparing in the worst possible way his Champions League match on Wednesday 20 October against Sevilla FC. A meeting that LOSC must absolutely win if it wishes to consider qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition.
